Bleacher Report - Articles by TJ March

Forgetting the Ghosts of US Cellular Field: Nick Swisher is the New Aaron Rowand

TJ March — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:00:59 -0400

Any Chicago White Sox fan born within the last four years remembers the miraculous run that the South Siders had as they marched on towards their first World Series title in 88 years.

Sox were led by, what current White Sox TV announcer, Ken "the Hawk" Harrelson, dubbed, the "Three Amigos." The Amigos consisted of present third basemen and late-inning hero, Joe Crede, current catcher and the third most hated athlete in sports, A.J. Pierzynski, and, since departed, hard-nosed, center fielder Aaron Rowand.

Within months of bring a World Series trophy to Chicago for the first time in almost nine decades, General Manager, Kenny Williams, traded home town hero, Aaron Rowand for left handed slugger, Jim Thome.

Along with Rowand, Kenny traded the heart and soul of the Chicago White Sox.

Since that final out of the 2005, the Chicago White have experimented with four center fielders.

In 2006, the Sox trotted out Brian Anderson. However, when Anderson showed that he could not hold his own at the plate, manager Ozzie Guillen turned to super-sub Rob Mackowiak to pick up the slack.

In 2007, the Sox brought in Angels' veteran, Darin Erstad, to attempt to fill the void left by Rowand. After both left fielder Scott Podsednik and center fielder Erstad went down due to injuries, Guillen turned to the speedy Jerry Owens.

Despite four separate, vain attempts to fill a void left in the outfield, as well as in the clubhouse, Kenny Williams went out and sold the farm to bring in another hard-nosed outfielder, Nick Swisher.

As a former White Sox killer, now turned South Sider, Swisher was brought in for his plate discipline and his attitude.

When not on the field diving to the dirt or running into the pads of the outfield walls or at-bat taking pitch after pitch, "Swish" can be seen running through the dugout shouting chants and encouragements.

Sox fans remember Scott Podsednik's game winning, walk off home run in game two of the WS in 2005. Who was the first one over the railing of the dugout to congratulate "Scotty Pods?" Rowand.

With each and every home run hit by a White Sox player this season, look to see who the first player to congratulate the home run hitter is. Swisher.

But what about the numbers?

Rowand had a break out year last season with the Phillies. He batted .307 while setting career highs in home runs (27), RBIs (89) and walks (47). He also won his first, and long over due, Gold Glove.

Swisher set some of his own career highs. Swisher batted .262 over the course of 150 games. However, he had a career high on-base percentage of .381 with 100 walks, 22 home runs, and 78 RBIs.

Rowand broke out in '07. Swisher had an off power year, but yet, still had a well above average on-base percentage.

Finally, with an everyday center fielder in Nick Swisher, a man with the same fire, passion, and desire as the man who helped lead the Sox to a WS, will White Sox fans embrace the new face in center field and begin to forget about the ghost of Aaron Rowand crashing into the walls at "the Cell?"

Only time will tell.

White Sox-Orioles: Business As Usual, Chicago Wins with Pitching in Opener

TJ March — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:32:37 -0400

The Chicago White Sox left the Windy City winning four out of seven games in their first home stand on the young 2008 season.

With winning three out of the final four against the Detroit Tigers and the Oakland Athletics, the White Sox outscored their opponents 23-3.

Gavin Floyd and Javier Vazquez both threw at least seven innings of shut out baseball against the Detroit Tigers. The Sox won those games seven to nothing, and 11 to nothing.

Mark Buehrle took the only loss of the starting staff. He allowed two earned runs over seven innings. The Sox lost that game two to one.

John Danks pitched the final game of the home stand allowing no runs over his seven and two thirds innings. The Sox went on to win four to one.

Would Jose Contreras be able to follow suit and pick up his first win on the young season?

Contreras pitched seven strong innings giving up one earned run on four hits and no walks. Jose also notched six strike outs.

All of the White Sox offense came with the first three at-bats against Orioles starter, Adam Loewen.

Nick Swisher lined a single into right field. Orlando Cabrera worked the count against the young lefty and took the walk. It was Jim Thome who did the damage with a three run home run to right center field.

Loewen and the Orioles relievers, Jim Johnson and Chad Bradford, then blanked the red hot White Sox offense for eight straight innings.

After three hits in the top of the first, the South Siders offense mustered only three hits for the rest of the game.

Fortunately for the Sox, the run that Contreras yielded in the fourth inning would be all that the Orioles would get. Contreras went on to retire the final 11 batters he faced.

Scott Linebrink came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth, giving up only one swinging bunt single to pinch-hitter, Jay Payton. Linebrink struck out one on his way to his fifth hold of the season.

Bobby Jenks came in to pitch the ninth against that heart of the Orioles lineup. Bobby notched one strike out on the way to a perfect ninth inning, and his sixth save of the young season.

These two division leading teams face off in the finale of the short series on Thursday night.

Righty Gavin Floyd takes the mound for the Sox. Floyd is set out to prove that his success is not just against the Detroit Tigers.

Floyd has posted a two and zero with a 2.03 ERA. Floyd started the Sox winning ways on Saturday by carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Gavin "Pretty-Boy" Floyd, as Nick Swisher dubbed him, is hoping to repeat his performance and continue the exceptional pitching the Sox have put on the field.

For the Orioles, Jeremy Guthrie will be climbing the hill. Guthrie is zero and one so far in the season. He has a 4.34 ERA in his first three starts.

The Sox get to face a right handed pitcher for first time in three starts. It might awaken some of the sleeping White Sox bats. Thome took his first steps to breaking out of his slump with his three run home run and a double.

Danks, Quentin Lead White Sox to Split Over Oakland A's

TJ March — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:07:18 -0400

White Sox starter John Danks had not won a game since July 16, 2007. That is, until April 15, 2008.

John Danks took the ball after White Sox ace Mark Buehrle pitched an excellent ball game the night before.

Would Danks be able to step up and forget his previous poor start?

Danks answered by going 7 2/3 innings. He yielded no runs on five hits and gave up two walks, while striking out four.

However, despite the great start from Danks, all credit cannot be due to him.

Behind Danks, there was exceptional defense.

Joe Crede had several superb diving plays to his right. Crede still had time, with each and every dive, to throw over to first base.

Alexei Ramirez, receiving a rare start in center field, made a shortstop-like throw from deep, right-center to gun down Emil Brown at second trying to stretch his hit into a double.

Carlos Quentin made an exceptional catch crashing into the left field fence hitting his surgically repaired left shoulder against it for the second straight game.

With Thome getting a day off, both due to a suspension and a routine day off, Konerko filled in at DH. That gave Nick Swisher a rare start at first base. Swisher made it worth while pulling several balls out of the dirt, as well as a great, off-the-base tag.

After what could only be considered an off day offensively on Monday night, the Sox, behind Carlos Quentin, came out and scored four runs against the A's young lefty Dana Eveland.

Eveland ended up going only 4 2/3 innings. In his shortened outing, he gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks.

Quentin did his damage to the A's in the fourth inning, with Crede and Konerko on base, launching a 1-0 pitch to deep left field for a home run to give the Sox a 3-0 lead.

Scott Linebrink came in and got the final out in the eighth inning without a hitch. However, he let the first two on base in the ninth before giving way to Bobby Jenks.

Jenks came in and gave up a sacrifice fly to Emil Brown on the first pitch, scoring Daric Barton from third.

On the very next pitch, Jenks induced a ground ball double play, ending the game.

The Sox leave town leading the AL Central and ship out to face the team leading the AL East, the Baltimore Orioles.

Jose Contreras gets the call for the opener. Jose hoping for his first solid start of the season.

With the red-hot White Sox facing the red-hot Orioles, the Sox fans, and players alike, hope for the offense to continue its hitting ways. They can only hope that the pitching continues the way that it has over the past four games, allowing three runs over 36 innings.

Roster Battles: Chicago White Sox Have No Room for Jerry Owens

TJ March — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:18:02 -0400

Coming into spring training for the 2008 season, the Chicago White Sox had a strict idea of how their lineup would shape up.

Both Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen had the fleet-footed Jerry Owens penciled in as the leadoff hitter.

That mentality went down the drain within weeks after Owens had reported to camp.

He is currently sitting on the disabled list with the same problem that limited leadoff man Scott Podsednik to just 62 games last season.

There have been two unlikely heroes who have attempted to step up to fill the gap left by the speedy Owens.

Newcomers Nick Swisher (acquired from Oakland for Ryan Sweeney, Gio Gonzales, and others) and Carlos Quentin (acquired from Arizona for a minor league first baseman) have filled in the rest of the outfield next to Jermaine Dye.

Swisher has stepped in and stepped up to the challenge of leading off. To this point, Swisher is batting .289 with a .460 on-base percentage. He has done exactly what he was brought in to do; get on base.

Quentin has filled in the outfield spot left vacant by the injured Owens.

After the Alexei Ramirez starting in center field experiment fell on its face, Swisher slipped over into center, and Quentin jumped into left.

As of Tuesday morning, Quentin is batting .222 with an on-base percentage of .333. However, Quentin has hit one home run and driven in 10 runs.

Quentin and Swisher have both added, with a couple exceptions, superb defense. Quentin's highlight reel includes doubling up Edgar Renteria at first base on a fly-out to left.

Nothing can replace Owens' 32 stolen bases in his 93 games. However, where do you put the speedy left-handed bat?

With Quentin, Swisher, and Dye playing exceptional defense, getting on base, and driving in big runs, there seems to be no place for Jerry, other than "riding the pine" or AAA Charlotte.

Do Ozzie and Kenny bring up Jerry Owens and send down the defensive-minded Brian Anderson, and keep Owens on the bench to be used as a pinch runner?

He would provide a left-handed bat off the White Sox bench that they do not have currently. He also gives Ozzie some speed, something the Sox are sorely lacking right now.

Does Jerry come up and immediately get shoved into the leadoff spot? If so, who's bat (or glove) gets displaced to the bench and to AAA? Jerry is the stereotypical leadoff hitter that would start stealing some bases at the top of that power-laden line up. It would also allow fantasy owners of Nick Swisher to finally get some power numbers out of him.

Or does KW start working on a trade? For the first time in recent memory, the South Siders have an excess of Major League ready outfielders.

However, who would command more on the trade market? Jerry Owens or Brian Anderson? More importantly still, who would you have to package with them to make any sort of deal worth while?

With Jerry Owens on a rehab assignment and returning soon, the White Sox management and the manager have some questions that need to be answered and thought out rather quickly.

Sox fans can only hope that all parties involved are not jumping into conclusions irrationally.

Unable to Keep the Fire: Chicago White Sox Drop First Game to the Oakland A's

TJ March — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:10:43 -0400

After outscoring the struggling Tigers 20-5 over the weekend series, the best offensive team in the American League welcomed the young Oakland Athletics to the South Side of Chicago.

With the offense thriving, the White Sox gave the ball to Mark Buehrle, who had his start pushed back a game to face the lefty-dominated Oakland lineup.

Buehrle pitched like the stereotypical Mark Buehrle—lasting seven innings while yielding two runs on nine hits and two walks.

The problem on the cold night in Chicago was not the pitching staff.

Everyone brought into the game to pitch threw the ball and got outs, with the exception of Mike MacDougal who did not record an out against the two batters he faced.

No, the problem was the offense.

The American League leading offense mustered eight hits and a walk against the rookie left hander, Greg Smith, and company.

However, the South Side Hitmen were only able to plate one of those base runners.

Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, the three and four hitters respectively, went 0-8 with the only RBI and four strikeouts.

In addition, the bottom third of the line up, Joe Crede, Carlos Quentin, and Juan Uribe, went a combined 0-11 with three strike outs.

Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera provided most of the Sox offense. The one and two hitters went 4-7. Swisher added a walk and the White Sox lone run scored.

Without any sort of support behind the two newest White Sox, the South Siders dropped the opener of the series two to one.

John Danks gets the call on Tuesday afternoon against another young Oakland lefty, Dana Eveland.

Eveland is one and zero in two starts for the A's this season. He sports a minuscule .68 ERA with 13 strikeouts.

Danks, however, is coming off an outing where being called "roughed up" would be an understatement.

The 23 year-old, White Sox lefty lasted a mere two and a third innings while yielding seven runs on seven hits and three walks in his last start.

Danks will be looking to get his redemption, much like Buehrle and Javier Vazquez did, against an Oakland A's team that is sitting on top of the AL West.

The White Sox will look for a series split behind John Danks. Hopefully, the Sox bats will come alive against Oakland's Eveland.

Motor City Meltdown: Chicago White Sox Sweep Detroit at Comerica

TJ March — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:27:04 -0400

Sunday night, in front of a nationwide audience on ESPN 2, the Detroit Tigers were fighting to keep from being swept at home in six games.

Right from the first pitch from Detroit's Justin Verlander, it was appearent that the Tigers' ace left much to be desired.

After a first pitched ball to White Sox stand-in lead off hitter, Nick Swisher, Verlander left a fastball over the heart of the plate that even Little League World Series players would be able to put in play.

Swisher connected with Verlander's fastball and drove it down the right field line and into the second section of the right field stands.

The rest of Verlander's outing was not much better. The Detroit ace finished the game going five and two thirds innings giving up nine runs, four earned, seven hits, and four walks.

After jumping ahead on Verlander in the first inning behind Nick Swisher, the White Sox were on cruise control behind starting pitcher and ace, Mark Buehrle.

Buehrle, trying to forget an opening day embarrassment, pitched like the Buehrle of old. He threw seven innings giving up seven hits, two walks, two runs, and one earned run.

Many of those base runners given up by Buehrle, and later Mike MacDougal (two innings pitched, two hits, one walk), were erased by five ground ball double plays.

After the dust cleared and the final, game-ending double play ball was thrown to Paul Konerko, the White Sox stood above the Tigers thirteen to two.

But what comes next?

The White Sox come home for their home opener. Javier Vazquez takes the mound against the Minnesota Twins rookie Nick Blackburn.

Vazquez has his own less-than-stellar performance to attempt to erase from April second in Cleveland. With an offense behind him that is as hot as any team in baseball, there should not be any problems.

But what about the team most experts have in the World Series?

The '08 Tigers are hardly the team that experts pinned them as less than two weeks ago in spring training.

With a bullpen that is in shambles and a rotation that is not much better, they are an offense hoping to out score their opponents.

Behind Verlander in the Tiger rotation is a question. Bonderman has elbow problems lingering from last year. Dontrelle is coming off a 5.17 ERA season in the National League. Rogers is turning 44 shortly and has injury problems of his own.

And Robertson has never panned out to be the pitcher that the White Sox envisioned when they attempted to draft and sign him, twice. Even the ace of the staff himself is coming off a season with elbow "stiffness."

The bullpen is worse. With a closer who posted an ERA above 4.3 last season and both setup men on the DL until God knows when, they are relying heavily on unproven youngsters, and Jason Grilli.

The Tigers are "Shippin' Up To Boston," to quote the infamous Dropkick Murphys, for their first road trip of the season. Maybe there, the zero for '08 Tigers can find a leg to stand on.

Chicago White Sox: The Shocks of Opening Day

TJ March — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:01:01 -0400

Just two weeks into spring training, Manager Ozzie Guillen came out and said that the Opening Day second baseman and leadoff hitter for the 2008 Chicago White Sox would be Pablo Ozuna.

Ozzie justified his answer by saying that Ozuna's career .400 average warranted such an honor. Most experts, and fans alike, agreed.

However, with 28 hours left before the first pitch of the White Sox '08 season, Scott Merkin (beat-writer for the Chicago White Sox) released an article stating what the lineup would be on Monday.

Ozzie's lineup on Opening Day is as follows:

1.) Nick Swisher-LF

2.) Orlando Cabrera-SS

3.) Jim Thome-DH

4.) Paul Konerko-1B

5.) Jermaine Dye-RF

6.) A.J. Pierzynski-C

7.) Alexei Ramirez-CF

8.) Joe Crede-3B

9.) Juan Uribe-2B

For a shock in this lineup, you need not look further than the lead off hitter. Ozzie has announced that Nick Swisher and his .361 career on-base percentage will be leading off on Opening Day.

However, that is not the only shocker coming from White Sox camp this Sunday morning.

While looking at the two through six hitters, no surprises jump out at you.

The number seven spot in this lineup is where the second shock comes up. Rather than going with the defensively-minded Brian Anderson or the injury-prone, power-threat Carlos Quentin, Ozzie has opted to use his "Cuban Missile," Alexei Ramirez in center.

According to Guillen, "[Ramirez] earned the job. We didn't hand it to him—he earned it."

No argument from anyone who saw the Cuban émigré and the way he played out in Arizona.

Ramirez wrapped up the spring batting .364 with 18 RBI (just one behind Thome's Cactus League high, 19) and a couple of home runs.

Merkin summarizes Ozzie by saying that "[Ramirez] won't just start against pitchers who rely on their fastballs such as Sabathia, [Ramirez is] the everyday center fielder over Brian Anderson and Carlos Quentin."

Now, anyone who followed Spring Training at all should find this rather shocking.

With the way that the White Sox brass was talking, it seemed as if Brian Anderson had won back the starting CF job that he had lost in early '07 with his batting average of .118.

The last shock is a simple one. The number nine hitter in the lineup is none other that the displaced SS, Juan Uribe. Uribe played himself into starting contention with batting .382 over the spring.

After being placed on waivers, Juan Uribe played himself into the starting second base job.

The shock is not so much that he is there. It is more that he is there against C.C. Sabathia.

Given Uribe's outstanding .190 batting average against the Indians' ace, Ozuna seems like a much better option. Ozuna would add speed to a lineup that, at this particular time, is incredibly devoid of it, as well as a career .400 average against C.C.

Only so much analysis can be done on any given situation until the actual day comes. The results of Opening Day will be the only thing that will determine how successful this lineup will, or will not, be.

Chicago White Sox: 2008 Offensive Preview

TJ March — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:46:22 -0400

Today Manager Ozzie Guillen might have filled out the lineup card that would be the blue-print for the rest of the season, or maybe, just opening day.

1. Pablo Ozuna—2B

2. Orlando Cabrera—SS

3. Jim Thome—DH

4 Paul Konerko—1B

5. Nick Swisher—LF

6. Jermaine Dye—RF

7. A.J. Pierzynski—C

8. Joe Crede—3B

9. Alexei Ramirez—CF

To start off, Ozzie has already come out and said that the speedster, Pablo Ozuna, would be leading off on opening day at Cleveland. This decision is purely based on the fact that Ozuna is batting well above .300 against Cleveland's opening day starter, C.C. Sabathia.

Filling the void left from when Tadahito Iguchi was traded to the Padres, Orlando Cabrera is batting in the two hole. Cabrera was brought in to fill that exact goal. O-Cab has the speed as well as the plate discipline to bat there. With twenty six sacrifice flies and sacrifice hits over the past two seasons, he is the right man to get the runner moving and over.

Batting third is the stalwart, Jim Thome. Thome was brought in less than a month after the White Sox won it all in 2005 to be a left handed bat to protect and compliment Paul Konerko. Along with Thome came a career .280 batting average, .409 on-base-percentage, just under 1400 RBI's, and, as of last year, over 500 career Home Runs.

Cleaning up in the White Sox lineup is the face of the offense over the past six years, Paul Konerko. Konerko has been the clean up hitter for the White Sox for as long as most fans can remember. He brings to the table a career .281 batting average, .353 on-base-percentage, 276 Home Runs, and just under 900 RBI's.

Batting behind Konerko may come as a shock to most people, but there he is, Kenny William's biggest offseason pick up, Nick Swisher. I understand why Ozzie is batting Swisher fifth over Jermaine Dye. It is simple. Ozzie wants to break up the two power righties in the middle of the line up.

The switch hitting Swisher allows Ozzie to be able to alternate righties and lefties up and down his lineup. Last season Swisher set career highs in batting average (.262), on-base-percentage (.381), walks (100), and hits (141). With how the Sox stuggled just to get on base last season, Swisher is a welcome change of pace.

Batting sixth is the White Sox '05 World Series MVP, Jermaine Dye. Dye slumped last season (not unlike all of the White Sox offense) after coming off a career year in 2006. Dye offers almost identical statistics to Konkero in every offensive category. Perhaps another reason to drop Dye down in the lineup is to hope that he bounces back from last season.

A.J. Pierzynski bats seventh. The White Sox backstop has a career average of .284 and an on-base-percentage of .328. Despite being considered poor compared to most other names in this lineup, for a catcher, A.J. can still swing the bat.

The former Sliver-Slugger Winner turned back surgery recovering third basemen bats eight. Limited to just 167 at-bats last season, the only way to look at Crede's offensive ability is to look back on 2006. In '06, Crede batted .283 with a .323 on-base-percentage with 30 Home Runs and 94 RBI's. We can only hope that Crede returns to pre-surgery form.

Rounding out the powerful White Sox lineup is the relatively unknown Alexei Ramirez. Ramirez has played himself into a roster position this spring. When signed, experts were quoted in saying that Cuban baseball was the American equivalent of short season Single-A ball.

Since his first start in spring, he impressed Ozzie and the entire staff. Ramirez went from an unknown Cuban defector to the soon-to-be starting second basemen to utility player. No one really knows what to expect from this rookie. But if spring training is any example, it will be a good year.

When completely healthy, the '08 White Sox should be able to go toe to toe offensively with just about any team in either league. Putting last season aside, the White Sox have the talent and ability to be in every game that they play in, no matter the score.

With Opening Day less than one week away, White Sox fans are dying to see this machine at work.

The Fall of Another Leadoff Hitter: Chicago White Sox Lose Jerry Owens

TJ March — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:38:24 -0400

During one of the most memorable runs in Chicago sports history, Scott Podsednik led off and played left field for nearly 130 games while the White Sox marched towards the first World Series title the city of Chicago had seen in 88 years.

That year, "Scotty Pods" batted .290 with a .351 on-base percentage. He also placed second, behind Chone Figgins, for total steals in the American League with 59.

Since then, during the '06 and '07 seasons, he batted roughly .250 with a .310 on-base percentage. However, the most stunning figure is that he played a total of 201 games over those two seasons.

Last season specifically, he was limited to 62 games due to a adductor problem. He received less than 215 at-bats.

Most of those lost at-bats were lost to the next leadoff hitter of the Chicago White Sox, Jerry Owens.

However, with his first full season in a Sox uniform on the horizon, Jerry Owens has placed himself on the 15-Day Disabled List. He suffers from the exact same injury that limited the World Series hero, Podsednik, to just 62 games a year ago.

White Sox officials say that there is a possibility that Owens might be available for the Sox home opener on April 7th.

But who wants to risk that?

They promised that the Podsednik thing was no big deal as well. We all saw how that ended. He was back on the field in less than a month—then back on the DL within weeks.

However, Owens' future health is the least of the concerns at this particular time and juncture. With Opening Day less than one week away, who will be leading off for the '08 White Sox?

Ozzie Guillen has already come out to say that Pablo Ozuna will be getting the nod, both at second base and leading off, because of his above .300 average against the Cleveland Indians' C.C. Sabathia.

But then who?

Nick Swisher? Swisher did have a .381 on-base percentage last season. And that is what a leadoff hitter is supposed to do: get on base.

However, Swisher does not have the speed that most people look for when they look at the photo-typical leadoff man. With that mindset, Ozzie might as well have Jim Thome and his career .400 on-base percentage leading off.

Orlando Cabrera? O-Cab had a .345 on-base percentage with 20 stolen bases last season. Now we are getting somewhere. However, Cabrera is still a career .273 hitter.

Or how about Pablo Ozuna? Ozuna's speed is exactly what managers look for on the base paths. When he gets on base, he makes the man on the mound nervous. Maybe I should say "if he gets on base." Ozuna has a career .322 on-base percentage.

With no real internal options, does Kenny Williams start looking elsewhere?

Juan Pierre is the stereotypical leadoff hitter who is on the out and out with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ryan Freel, who is out of a starting job in Cincinnati, has the speed and the "Grinder Spirit" that Williams loves so much in his players.

Or maybe this is Kenny's actual incentive to start actively pursuing Brian Roberts. Roberts would solve the current second base logjam, in addition to solving the White Sox leadoff problem for the next two years.

One last option is Coco Crisp. He does not have a starting job in Boston, and he was brought up in the AL Central.

With six days before the Sox set foot in "The Jake" for the start of their season, even more questions exist for the White Sox than when they broke camp for Spring Training.

Chicago White Sox: The Battle at Third

TJ March — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:49:16 -0400

As of March 22nd, the Giants claimed Jose Castillo off waivers. He was brought in, one can only assume, to solve the "Hot Corner" problem for the Giants.

This has several repercussions. The biggest of which effects the current battle, or now lack thereof, for who will be playing third base every day for the Chicago White Sox.

The incumbent, veteran Joe Crede, is returning from season ending back surgery.

The challenger, rookie Josh Fields, is coming off one of the best seasons a rookie has had in a White Sox uniform. He led A.L. Rookies slugging out 23 home runs and having a slugging percentage of .480 in just 100 games.

However, coupled with the fact that Fields still has options and Crede's better defense at third, the pick up of Castillo has all but dried up the market for the recovering Silver Slugger winner.

Castillo being claimed by the Giants might as well have printed Fields' airline ticket to Charlotte this season, at least until Crede can prove he is 100 percent and well enough to be traded.

But does it have to work like this?

Yes, the White Sox view Fields as their future third basemen (as well as present).

But, why not try to move the budding rookie infielder? Both the Giants and Dodgers still have needs at the "Hot Corner," even with the signing of Castillo. I can only guess that the youthful Fields could command better than a "B" prospect.

Yes, I know Crede is represented by Boras.

And yes, I know the White Sox current relationship with this infamous agent.

However, the Kenny Williams and the Sox already made some contracts and deals this offseason, as well as towards the end of last season, that the Sox said that they would not make (ex. Buehrle's 4-year deal).

Why not at least attempt to make a deal with Fields?

The Angels need a third basemen. It would allow Chone Figgins to switch back to his natural position of second base (or maybe he is who you trade for).

The Dodgers have a vacancy with Garciaparra going down.

Yes, the third base market for next year is not too thick. However, that is a risk you take if you trade Fields and fail to sign Crede.

General management in baseball is about risks. Why not take a shot?

Chicago White Sox: A Glimpse of 2008

TJ March — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:01:14 -0400

Just five days after rumors of the Chicago White Sox placing Juan Uribe on waivers, he has the Spring Training game of his life.

He's playing, more than anything, for a trade. Along with him, Bryan Anderson is as well.

Neither of which have a slot on the team.

Uribe will be used as a defensive replacement for the infield. Anderson will be used as a defensive replacement for the outfield.

I would rather see our bench consist of Jason Bourgeois, Pablo Ozuna, and Ryan Freel.

Yes, I know Freel is not a part of the current Sox plans, but Freel, out in Cincinnati, can be had for next to nothing. The versatile speedster is out of a starting job with Brandon Phillips in front of him at second base and Corey Patterson now signed to play center.

I have been pushing for the Sox to make a move on Freel since they traded away Aaron Rowand just weeks after winning the World Series in 2005.

Between Freel (1B/2B/3B/OF), Ozuna (2B/SS/3B/OF), Bourgeois (2B/SS/3B/OF), Alexei Ramirez (starting second baseman, can play 2B/SS/OF), and Nick Swisher (starting LF/CF, can play 1B/OF), you have arguably the most versatile team in major league baseball.

I think this is a definite no-brainer for Kenny Williams.

A player like Ryan Freel doesn't become available that often. I'm surprised no one has jumped on him, let alone Kenny.